


Boldly Go

by CloudCover (RainyForecast)



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, M/M, Rookie Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 06:41:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16012397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainyForecast/pseuds/CloudCover
Summary: The new second officer is cute, alright? Geno can’t be blamed for taking one look at him across the crew’s mess, and deciding then and there that he was going to get to know Commander Crosby.





	Boldly Go

 

 

The new second officer is cute, alright? Geno can’t be blamed for taking one look at him across the crew’s mess, and deciding then and there that he was going to get to know Commander Crosby.

He’s been hearing about him for ages now. He’s the youngest Starfleet graduate to assume the rank of second officer of a starship, ever. Geno’s no run-of-the mill ensign himself. He never even attended the Academy. Captain Lemieux found him on a backwater space station working for a private corporation, and offered him the opportunity of a lifetime. And here he is, second in command to the chief science officer. Everyone thinks he’ll assume the post himself within the next couple of years.

Anyway. It’s with some confidence then, that he approaches Crosby, darling of the Academy. Fuck he’s cute. Geno doesn’t know much human he’s got in him, but it’s enough to make his black hair curl charmingly around his very Vulcan ears. When Geno says his name, he looks up with these big hazel eyes that make him look incredibly disarming.

_This_  is the most promising leader the Academy’s produced in a generation? Well. Appearances can be deceiving and all that.

“Hello,” Geno says, and gives him his most charming grin. “Nice to meet, Commander Crosby. I’m—”

“Lieutenant Malkin, I know,” Crosby says, face impassive. “I’d been meaning to make your acquaintance.”

“Oh really,” Geno says, flirtatiously. His tone is lost on Crosby.

“Yes,” he says seriously. “I wanted to speak with you about the training simulation we ran yesterday. Our performance was within the parameters of acceptable, but I had some ideas about how to best use the science division in such a scenario.”

“Er…sure,” Geno says, before getting sucked into a conversation so intense and technical it feels akin to being smacked in the face with the entire Starfleet Officer’s Handbook.

***

And that’s how the situation continues, regarding Crosby. Behind the baby face and the plush, kissable mouth lies the sharpest, most analytical mind Geno’s ever encountered, And he’s met multiple  _full-blooded_  Vulcans.  

There are moments Geno can catch glimpses of the captain Crosby is undoubtedly going to be someday, and it makes his hair stand on end sometimes. He also can feel himself falling for him hopelessly. Not in a romantic way. 

Or, not  _just_  in a romantic way.

He’s lying in his bunk one night, after a slightly terrifying away mission, the realization dawning that he’d follow Crosby anywhere. Die for him, even. He can tell he’s going to be a captain like Starfleet’s never seen.

And it might be sooner rather than later. Captain Lemieux is a legend, but his health isn’t what it was. There have been endless hushed conversations along the ship’s corridors and common areas, all trying to guess when Captain Lemieux will step down, and if Commander Crosby will be chosen to take his command. Geno scoffs at the speculation. Of course Crosby will be captain. There isn’t doubt in his mind.

He doesn’t know how much attention Crosby pays to the rumors. If he’s listening to them, he’s just working even harder, taking his perfectionism to even more exacting heights.

He’s not as emotionless as he pretends to be, though. Geno’s seen him whenever they have children on board, how gentle and soft he goes with them. He’s seen him calm and soothe anxious refugees, mediate interspecies disputes, and take out a hostile and attacking alien lifeform with such efficiency and skill that Geno might have… visited the image when all alone in his bunk. A… few times.

Basically, Geno is fucked. He’s Commander Crosby’s man for the rest of his life. Mostly content to serve loyally under him, without trying again to see if he’d ever look at Geno as more than his fellow officer.

If he gets a little wasted on Skagaran whiskey one night and maybe does a little crying about how Commander Crosby doesn’t love him back, well. At least he did it alone in his quarters where no one could find out.

***

The mission that results in Captain Lemieux’s retirement leaves the ship damaged and them all a little shaken. Crosby assumes the mantle of captain in sickbay, sworn in with his uniform torn and his pale face smudged with soot. His shoulders are set straight and strong, and only Geno catches the tremor in his hands and the tightness of his lips as he takes the oath. They leave Former Captain Lemieux to the care of the medical staff, and file out into the corridor.

“Wait,” Crosby says, putting a hand on Geno’s sleeve. “Lieutenant Malkin— Geno. I want to, um. To talk to you. But, not here.”

Crosby’s lips are set and pale, and he has dark circles under his eyes. “Of course,” Geno says gently. He follows Crosby to the holodeck, and waits without asking him what he’s doing as Crosby tells the computer to “run simulation 87.”

“This is my favorite,” Crosby says quietly, as the holodeck begins to shimmer around them. Geno isn’t sure what he was expecting, maybe the dry red deserts of Vulcan. It certainly wasn’t a warm tropical beach, with towering palms rustling in a fragrant breeze beneath a star-drenched sky.

As soon as the simulation solidifies, Crosby’s shoulders slump, and he covers his face with his hands. He draws an awful, shuddering breath.

“I can’t do this, Geno,” he says, voice muffled and watery. “I can’t— what if—”

Geno is only human. He heart is feeling too soft and blown open to do anything but reach out to enfold Crosby— Sidney, in his arms, and pull him into his chest. Miracle of miracles, Sidney not only doesn’t pull away, he collapses into Geno, fists clenching Geno’s blue uniform shirt. Geno rests his chin on top of Sidney’s curls,

“Shhhh,” he says, restraining himself with difficulty from dropping a kiss onto Sidney’s hair. “You gonna be fine, I’m know this. Never see anything like you. You amazing, Sid. Would follow you anywhere, forever.”

“You—” Sidney leans back to look at Geno. “You think—”

“I  _know_ ,” Geno says fiercely, with all the belief he has in him. Sidney stares at him, tropical stars shining in his eyes. “I say already. No matter what, would follow you anywhere. For me, my captain can only be you.”

Sidney breathes in sharply, and ducks his head back into Geno’s neck. He’s very, very still for a long moment.

Then, Geno feels him press his lips to Geno’s skin. Soft, and hesitant, two things he’s never known Sidney to be.

“Sid,” he says softly, unable to stem the raw affection and longing in his tone.

Sid doesn’t answer, only tilts his face up. “Thank you,” he says. “For— just being here.” He laughs a little, ruefully. “Here for me to collapse on.”

“You strongest person I’m know, Sid,” Geno tells him, laying a hand on his cheek. “Best person. You should know, is okay to let someone hold you up sometimes. No one can do this job alone. And you not alone.”

Brave with hope, he leans down, and does what he’s wanted to do since he first met Sidney:  he softly kisses that impossible mouth.

Sidney leans into the kiss with a sigh, and his hands find their way from Geno’s uniform front to his face, the back of his neck.

It’s not a heated kiss, not an urgent one. But it’s warm, and feels full of promise.

It feels like a beginning.

The light in Sidney’s eyes when he breaks away, the determined curve of his smile, that feels like a beginning too.

Geno grins back at him, fierce and proud.

“Well then, Lieutenant Malkin. Let’s show the universe what we’re made of,” Sidney says.

“We show,” Geno says. “We show, together.” And he leans down to kiss Sidney again, the stars glimmering bright above them.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me as [knifeshoeoreofight](http://knifeshoeoreofight.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, and as @RainyForecast on Twitter. Come say hi!


End file.
